(August 15, 2022) – Pleaman Forsey, PC Official Opposition Shadow Minister for Forestry and MHA for Exploits, is expressing concern over the province’s ability to fight large scale fires as experienced in the Central Island region over the past few weeks.

The province once had a fleet of five water bombers, but that was reduced to four in 2018 due to mechanical issues. When asked about the reduction of water bombing capacity in 2020, the Minister was quoted as saying, “The four has certainly met our needs.”

Forsey says, “First and foremost, I want to thank the hardworking men and women that have contributed to getting control over these fires. Without your efforts, a bad situation certainly could have gotten worse. Now that the fires in Central seem to be well in hand, we need to assess our capacity for fighting large-scale fires like this one, and take steps to improve our capacity.”

The states of emergency for the areas of Grand Falls-Windsor, Bishop’s Falls, the Connaigre Peninsula, and Botwood ended at 12:01 AM on August 13th, 2022.

“The Minister stated in 2020 that the water bomber that was out of commission was likely to go up for sale, and we could have used that money to partially fund a replacement. However, we haven’t heard a peep from the Minister since then on this potential sale and potential replacement for the province. I hope that the province and the Minister learn a lesson from this situation as it could have gotten much worse,” says Forsey.

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Contacts:

Bradley Russell

Director of Communications and Digital Strategy

(cell) (709) 729-3668

BradleyRussell@gov.nl.ca